AceShowbiz - Amazon Studios bosses have confirmed director James Gunn's planned "Starsky and Hutch" reboot has been axed - but it has nothing to do with his Twitter scandal.

Gunn was fired as the director of the third "Guardians of the Galaxy" movie on Friday, July 20 after ill-advised and insensitive tweets he once posted about paedophilia resurfaced.

The moviemaker has since apologised, explaining the tweets written years ago were a mistake and he no longer likes to write things to shock.

It has now been revealed that his planned "Starsky and Hutch" reboot series for Amazon Studios is officially a no go.

A spokesperson for Amazon Studios tells Yahoo Finance that executives backed out of the project months ago, long before the Twitter scandal.

"We passed on the project completely," the representative says. "There was no statement (at the time). This is the same for any other project we do not move forward with."

It is unclear why Amazon Studios bosses backed out of the project.

Meanwhile, Gunn's friends and colleagues in the movie industry are offering up their support, with many signing a petition urging Disney bosses to reinstate him as the director of the third "Guardians of the Galaxy" film.

Guardians star Dave Bautista, actress Selma Blair, and moviemaker Joe Carnahan have publicly defended Gunn, while Michael Rooker shut down his Twitter account on Monday, July 23 amid the drama surrounding the director's firing.